East Rutherford, NJ (Betting Express) - The New Jersey Nets will try to maintain home-court advantage when they welcome the Milwaukee Bucks to Continental Airlines Arena tonight for Game 2 of their best-of-seven series.

Saturday's Game 1 between the seventh-seeded Bucks and the second-seeded Nets was billed as a classic point guard clash. As it turned out, Jason Kidd won his battle with Gary Payton, and Kenyon Martin made life hell for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Martin finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, while Kidd added 14 points and 14 assists to New Jersey's 109-96 victory. Jason Collins played perhaps his best game as Net with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Kerry Kittles got in on the act with 18 points. Lucious Harris chipped in with 17 points off the pine for New Jersey.

Martin's effort contributed to New Jersey's 48-28 advantage on the boards. The Nets held a 16-7 edge on the offensive glass, which helped them to get out in transition. New Jersey needs to get out on the run to be successful. In addition, the Nets would like to defend their home floor if at all possible, since they were a poor road team during the regular season (16-25).

Payton, meanwhile, didn't find the scorecard until the fourth quarter and finished with eight points.

"They've had plenty of battles in their day," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "They look forward to playing each other because of their competitive nature. Today Jason got the best of him. If you know anything about Gary Payton and how competitive he is, you know he's going to come back with a vengeance."

Wasted in the loss was a strong effort by Milwaukee's Tim Thomas. Thomas drilled five treys and finished with 25 points.

"They did everything they were supposed to do," Milwaukee coach George Karl said. "They ran by us, outrebounded us and they penetrated. It was disappointing how we responded to the personality we were going up against. I think in a lot of ways, they played a playoff game and we were still in the regular season."

After the game, Payton, Sam Cassell and Jason Caffey had to fly to Toronto and surrender to police in connection to a brawl outside a strip club. The Players were charged with simple assault and will appear in court on May 30.

Karl feels the off-court problems could affect his players' performance.

"Any time that you've got a legal thing hanging over your head, there's probably some anxiety to it and some worry," Karl said.

New Jersey has won four out of five playoff series in which it captured the series opener. The Nets are 11-28 all-time in the first round of the postseason.

Game 3 shifts to Bradley Center on Thursday night.